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News Briefs 9.25.02

School
days in court

On
September 17, the Greater Rochester Area
Coalition for Education got one step closer to winning fairness for kids.

The Court of Appeals, New York's
highest court, agreed to hear what's become known as the GRACE lawsuit. GRACE
and its allies feel the state must adjust its funding policies, or even
reconfigure school districts, to ameliorate the effects of concentrated
poverty. The legal strategy rests on what has been judged a constitutional
guarantee of "a sound, basic education" --- and an equal one --- for every
child.

"We're very pleased by the Court of
Appeals decision to accept review," says Bryan Hetherington, a GRACE attorney.
The victory, he says, will help "protect the needs of kids in Rochester."

The state might opt for combining
chunks of urban and suburban districts to achieve better balance, says
Hetherington. Imagine, for example, a district that would blend parts of
Irondequoit with the city's northeast quadrant. That layout, says Hetherington,
would be compact enough so that transportation wouldn't be a hassle. "There's
new data out there on how low-income kids do in suburban schools," he says. The
data, he says, indicate these students do "a great deal better" than in schools
plagued by poverty, he says.

The courtroom may soon be cooking
with more than the GRACE suit. The downstate Campaign for Fiscal Equity has
appealed a lower court decision that said a mere eighth-grade education would
satisfy the constitutional guarantee. The CFE remains committed to improving
the New York City schools, which are burdened with what author-educator
Jonathan Kozol termed "savage inequalities."

Another reform-minded group has
formed in Rochester, too. On September 19, local activists --- including
Fairport school supervisor William Cala, city councilmember Wade Norwood, and
the Rev. Errol Hunt of Memorial AME Zion Church --- launched a chapter of the
statewide Alliance for Quality Education. The AQE is now gathering signatures
on a "People's Brief" to protest the idea that an eighth-grade education is
enough.

Hot
line for health

Access
to health care is a treacherous side-canyon of the Great Economic Divide.
Low-income and uninsured people often have difficulty getting necessary care
and medications, and they sometimes wind up going to the emergency room when
all else fails.

But now the Rochester Primary Care Network --- with the help of Unity Health,
Rochester General Hospital, Preferred Care, the Blues, the Monroe County
Medical Society, the county health department, et al. --- has a partial
solution.

On September 20, RPCN, which
supports a local network of neighborhood medical and dental centers and other
facilities serving the medically needy, unveiled its "Affordable Health Line."
By calling 328-7000, low-income people in the area can get referrals to
medical, dental, mental-health, and substance-abuse services near their homes.
(The lines, staffed by qualified medical professionals, are open from 8 a.m. to
8 p.m. every day.) The service also provides information on lower-cost health
insurance, including state programs like Child Health Plus.

Esther Brill, RPCN's director of
Children and Youth Services, says this is "a one-stop shopping concept" --- a
means to simplify what has been a complex system of health-related supply and
demand. But the service will have the human touch, too: Brill promises callers
will get "a tremendous amount of 'TLC.'"

There should be plenty of callers.
"According to the 2000 census, there are 51,000 people [in the area] who live
below the poverty line," says RPCN head Arthur Collier. He notes that some
existing services for low-income people aren't being used to capacity ---
though he says RPCN is looking for more dental services to meet the need.

Made
for walking

Nationally-known
pedestrian advocate Dan Burden
waltzed into Rochester September 17 --- and in a program titled "Creating
Walkable Communities," he walked a local audience through the myriad ways of
building livable urban-suburban spaces.

The Florida-based Burden, once a National Geographic photographer, said
he's visited more than 1,300 communities in his years as advocate. He told some
bad news that Upstate New Yorkers know from their own backyard: Every place in
America that's had zero percent population growth in recent years has seen a 25
percent increase in vehicular traffic. That, he said, is partly because of the
physical layout of new neighborhoods, shopping centers, and other destinations,
all of which force people to use cars (if they have them).

"The purpose of cities is to minimize travel," said Burden. That
means placing workplaces, homes, and public spaces near each other; integrating
roadways, bikeways, sidewalks, and greenspaces; and installing
"traffic-calming" measures to take back the streets for pedestrians.

"People want real towns," he said
--- not tons of asphalt, clouds of exhaust, and time-consuming trips to run
errands or drop in on friends.

Burden's visit was sponsored by the
Genesee Transportation Council, which funnels some public funding into
pedestrian- and bike-friendly enhancements. GTC head Steve Gleason said one
item on the agenda is making Rochester well-known nationally for its recreational
trail system. We've already surpassed 90 percent of US communities in this
regard, he said.

Dan Burden bestowed a special honor
on the newly completed Atlantic-University Avenue reconstruction and its
"ARTWalk," which sports work by local creative talents. The project, said
Burden, is "America's best road diet" on display --- that is, it shows how a
congested street can be made lean but less mean, and infinitely more
interesting.